Credit rating agencies’ concerns over the tumult in the Middle East focused on how much governments there might step up spending to calm public ire, but others called the timing of the agencies’ warnings “ill-advised.”

The government of Uzbekistan, stung by the outcry in the West over its bloody suppression of a prison break and anti-government demonstration in May, has engaged for months in a ferocious crackdown against those who have tried to expose the...

September 20, 2005, Tuesday

To the Editor: Re ''Court of First Resort,'' by Samantha Power (Op-Ed, Feb. 10): Fear that the International Criminal Court will prosecute those responsible for the killing in Darfur extends well beyond the Sudanese militia leader Ms. Power...